Chemicals React: Redeux
by Stacey And E Productions
Summary: An edited, higher quality version of a previously available FanFiction which is still available on my account.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Wow... So The original drafts were really bad.**

**So basically, this is simply a rewrite... a rewrite for an overall better experience. Elaine's name won't change at all beyond sticking with Harrison, but this is just a rehaul to fix some mistakes in biology (Elisha and I clearly had no idea how biology worked), less overall dialogue ham, and some scenes may change in the entirety. I just feel so embarrassed because some of the self-harm scenes are triffled with inaccuracies (I won't explain how I know that) and certain scenes are just so over the top. Not only that, Elaine in some ways was such a Mary Sue that this is more of a fix-it for what happened last time.**

**Also, there are more breaks between the writing. Walls of texts, I have realized, just look plain awful.**

* * *

A red head in a cheerleader uniform was walking down the hallway with her heart still searing from the a breakup she had minutes before. She remembered everything, every last painful word, once again her tears hid behind her. She didn't want to seem weak once more, instead, why not take on an icier attitude? She doesn't want to show her real persona any more, it only brought her misery and anger. Then she saw him. He was everything she ever wanted, not ashamed of wearing pink, she liked that in a guy. However, she knew that this school was insane about keeping the status quo, and if she was seen being nice to him, her reputation would go down instantly.

Gabriella was new and fresh out of a relationship with her old boyfriend. She bumped into East High's golden boy, Troy Bolton, and he smiled and said, "Let me help you out there." She was about to refuse help due to the fact she didn't want to jump right back into another doomed relationship, but looking into his blue eyes froze her on the spot. She couldn't help but wonder who his girlfriend was and she instantly felt ashamed for even wondering that at this given moment. She nodded, and he handed her back her books, and said, "I'm Troy. Troy Bolton."

Gabriella was in shock to see such a good looking guy even willing to talk to her. Her chocolate brown eyes looked up at his bright blue eyes. She couldn't think of anything other than, "Hi."

"What's your name? I haven't seen you around," he said.

_You make me feel out of my element_  
_Like I'm walkin' on broken glass_  
_Like my world's spinnin' in slow motion_  
_And you're movin' too fast_

"Gabriella," she said to him, "Gabriella Montez."

Gabriella was shocked as he took her hand, shaking it. Troy smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Miss Montez. What class do you have, maybe I can take you there?"

Elsewhere, Elaine had bumped into what appeared to be a new kid to her. Elaine hadn't the time to pretend to be happy or even act nice to someone she didn't know. She snapped, "Watch it."

The blond boy looked at her, and said, "I'm sorry Elaine."

Elaine froze for a moment, wondering how he knew her. Somewhere, her brain connected the Evans twin to the boy, and she stated, "Well, Evans, don't do it again." He nodded and walked off to his sister, the ice princess, and the second most popular girl and school.

_Were you right, was I wrong_  
_Were you weak, was I strong, yeah_  
_Both of us broken_  
_Caught in a moment_  
_We lived and we loved_  
_And we hurt and we jumped, yeah_  
_But the planets all aligned_  
_When you looked into my eyes_  
_And just like that_  
_The chemicals react_  
_The chemicals react_

"I'm going to Drama class with someone called Darbus," Gabriella said.

"Great, I'll walk you. I have that class too," he said.

Ryan didn't seem as strong as his sister, and that's what made Elaine feel terrible, she hated preying on the weak. It didn't make her feel stronger; it made her feel stupid and pathetic. Yet at the same time, she was too strong for anyone in this school, so no one dared to take her on a challenge. She didn't have anyone who knew her for her real self. Amber tapped her on the shoulder and said, "You feeling alright?"

Elaine looked at her and nodded. She looked at the time and said, "We better go to Darbus's room, you know how she loves handing out detentions."

Amber nodded, and the rest of the team followed. Elaine rid herself of any emotion and noticed a new girl hanging around Troy Bolton. She heard Ashley say, "Looks like Bolton's hanging around with a geek."

Elaine forced a laugh, not wanting to admit her own perfect grade record. In fact, she didn't know who she'd be without her grades or her social standing. It was hard to work both with a high grade point average and keep her role as a cheer captain, often forgoing nights of sleep. Elaine sometimes felt close to breaking down from how her head felt most days, and sometimes she needed a release as well.

_You make me feel out of my element_  
_Like I'm driftin' out to the sea_  
_Like the tide's pullin' me in deaper_  
_Makin it hard to breath_

Troy kept looking over to Gabriella, and couldn't help but wonder where she came from. She was beautiful and the only girl who made him feel a certain way. Elaine felt something while looking into Ryan's frightened eyes, but she brushed it away. After all, she had to deny this feeling, and Ashley looked at her funny but brushed off Elaine's strange actions. Elaine didn't know exactly how else to react anymore.

_We cannot deny how we feel inside_  
_We cannot deny_

Elaine shrugged and noticed Troy and Gabriella flirting and Gabriella looked happy. Ms. Darbus looked at the pair and said, "Detention, Mr. Bolton and Miss Montez, and next time, do not disrupt my class with PDA."

Chad looked at Troy, who was turning red, and said, "No, no, that's impossible, Ms. Darbus, your honor, see, 'cause we have basketball practice and Troy..." She cut him off and said, "Ah that will be fifteen minutes for you as well, Mr. Danforth, count 'em!"

Taylor snickered and Elaine heard her say, "That could be tough for Chad, since he probably can't count that high." Elaine couldn't help but laugh at the comment.

"That will be fifteen minutes for you too, McKessie and Harrison. Does anyone else have any comments or questions?"

Elaine rolled her eyes as Jason raised his hand and asked, "How were your holidays, Ms. Darbus?"

Seconds before Darbus could answer the bell rang, saving everyone from a potentially long and boring story.

_Were you right, was I wrong_  
_Were you weak, was I strong, yeah_  
_Both of us broken_  
_Caught in a moment_  
_We lived and we loved_  
_And we hurt and we jumped, yeah_  
_But the planets all aligned_  
_When you looked into my eyes_  
_And just like that_  
_The chemicals react_  
_The chemicals react_

Elaine shook it off, and once again, she took off. Elaine knew that Ryan and Sharpay got detention for something about cell phones and she was in detention for egging on Taylor, since she chuckled. She had to bail on cheerleading because of the detention, and she noticed Troy and Gabriella looking at the audition list, but Elaine didn't sign up, even though she thought of doing it several. Troy was going to, apparently.

She chuckled and started day dreaming about the idea of finally admitting that she herself liked to sing, that she always did like skateboarding down at the skate park. That she sometimes wanted to sign up for the school musical. She was snapped back to reality when she hit the door to Math, and she said, "Oops, my bad."

She went inside, and saw that new girl there. She took a seat next to her, and looked at the board, confused about the second equation. _Something's not right about that equation,_ she thought to herself, and frowned, looking at her notes. It was then she realized she hadn't taken notes and a flush crept up on her cheeks. How silly of her.

_Kaleidoscope of colors_  
_Turning hopes on fire, sun is burning_  
_Shining down on both of us_  
_Don't let us lose it (don't let us lose it...)_

Then she heard the new girl say, "Shouldn't the second equation be sixteen over pi?"

_Of course, that makes sense!, _Elaine thought. That was, until the teacher said, "_Sixteen_ over pi? That's quite impossible... I stand corrected!" She started to erease it when she said to Gabriella, "Oh, and welcome aboard."

Elaine looked at her, and smiled, before going back and writing in the equation.

She waited for the bell, detention was soon to come. Trust her luck Taylor happened to ask about Troy with the new girl. Elaine kind of ignored it and instead went to work on her science work. Taylor then looked at her and said, "Hey, it's something you don't see every day! A cheerleader who is actually doing her work in class."

Elaine looked up at Taylor in disgust. "So you expected me to never once work in my life? That, oh, I don't know, maybe I've gotta keep my grade up to stay on the squad? You don't just have extra curriculars and not have good grades. There's a no pass no play rule in effect, in case you've forgotten. That means I've gotta have at least a C, and I'm trying to maintain an A-B average here. So instead of picking on me, how about you shut up?"

Taylor looked as if she had been bitched slapped before she pulled Gabriella away and said, "How did she know all of that?"

Gabriella shrugged and said, "Maybe she actually cares about her science grade?"

_Were you right, was I wrong_  
_Were you weak, was I strong, yeah_  
_Both of us broken_  
_Caught in a moment_  
_We lived and we loved_  
_And we hurt and we jumped, yeah_

Elaine sighed, hating the random attention from Taylor and Gabriella. She trusted they wouldn't bother to tell anyone what had happened so she grabbed her cheer bag and slung it over her shoulder like nothing happened. She stormed off before anything else could be said.

_We lived_  
_We loved_  
_We hurt_  
_We jumped_  
_We're right_  
_We're wrong_  
_We're weak_  
_We're strong_  
_We lived to love_

Elaine slammed her locker door shut as she went to Home Ec. She was the only one in the school who knew Zeke baked, since they took a private course. "Hey, Zeke! Are ready for some baking?"

"You know it!"

She looked through and said, "Let's try crème brule again, I'm sure you almost have it!"

Zeke looked excited and said, "I love making crème brule!"

She laughed, and then said, "You remember Ryan Evans right?" "Sharpay's twin brother?"

"Yeah, he bumped into me in the halls today. But I didn't feel too upset about it. You think that means something?"

"Huh. That's funny, since I kind of was starting to like Sharpay. You think it means anything?" Elaine and Zeke told each other everything they would tell anyone else, since they never where ones to spill secrets that they were trusted with.

"Possibly. You think something's changing? Taylor did seem shocked when she found out I knew a lot about science. She was hanging around this new girl."

"Same one Troy's hanging around with?"

"Possibly. Get this, she knows math like the back of her hand."

"Wow, she sound awesome."

"I know."

They pulled out the crème brule and looked at each other with a wide grin. They chorused together, "Perfecto!"

They laughed and Elaine looked at her watch, and said, "I got to go to detention with Darbus."

"Same one Troy's in?"

Elaine laughed and said, "Yeah."

_But the planets all aligned_  
_When you looked into my eyes_  
_And just like that_  
_Watch the chemicals react_  
_And just like that_  
_The chemicals react_  
_(The chemicals react)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Nope, don't own High School Musical. Yes, still working on this.**

_Grew up in a small town  
And when the rain would fall down  
I'd just stare out my window_

In detention with Ms. Darbus. Elaine was painting a stupid backdrop, Sharpay was doing nothing, Ryan was painting a ladder, Gabriella was painting the BACK of a moon (who looks at the back, anyway?), Taylor was talking to Gabriella about the decathlon, Troy and Chad where in a tree. Elaine was giggling softly as Troy was trying to wake Chad with a leaf, or it looked that way anyway. She looked at Ryan, and smiled softly, until she heard Coach Bolton come through the doors saying, "Where's my team, Darbus? What the heck are those two doing in a tree?" Elaine laughed, that just sounded plain funny.

"It's called crime and punishment, Bolton," said Darbus dramatically.

Elaine rolled her eyes, and Coach said, "Can we talk, and you two, in the gym, NOW!"

Elaine gave Coach her famous spoiled bitch look, and went back to painting. Until Amber came through, looking furious and screamed as loudly as possible, meaning people in China could hear her, "ELLA! GET YOUR SORRY BUTT DOWN TO PRACTICE!"

Elaine said, "I'm sorry, I think I'm in, what's it called, DETENTION. You know, that thing people are placed in by a rat with the name of Darbus?"

"Do what you always do! Sneak out of detention!" Elaine glared at her and went back to the set, carefully adjusting the stars as she always does. After she finished she stepped back and admired her work, that is, until Martha tripped and landed on her painting.

Elaine gasped, "That took me five whole hours to finish! Do you know how hard it is to not mix the white paint with navy blue paint? Do you know how long it takes for the white paint to SET on dark colors? It takes SIX hours to set white paint on dark colors without letting it run!"

_Dreaming of what could be  
And if I'd end up happy  
I would pray_

Everyone looked at her in shock. No one even knew she could paint, and she was crying because of the fact her backdrop was ruined and was all over Martha. Not only that, she had ruined her outfit painting the set! "That was supposed to be used in the play! It was my best work! God, people are SO selfish sometimes!" She rushed to fix it, her skirt becoming more of a disaster as she fixed it. She wiped sweat of her forehead, running white and blue paint through her flaming red hair and specks of paint on her face.

She sighed as she finished it in another two hours, and said, "Perfect!" She gave one last glare to Martha before moving on to the other backdrop, and she wondered why Ms. Darbus needed this one. Was she a pack rat? She shook her head as she painted the meadows with flair and even added roses to the feild. She smiled as she looked at her work. God, just what she needed. She looked at Sharpay, who was smirking and walked over to her. "Gosh, what happened to you?" Sharpay gave one last smirk before she dumped blue paint all over her outfit, and worst of all, her cheer sneakers.

She gasped, and said, "What the HELL was that for?"

Sharpay shrugged and said, "You're taking my spot as drama queen. I need to stay on top somehow."

"Oh yeah?" She grabbed a bucket of purple paint, same color for the opposing team and dumped it all over her, saying, "Oh, look. Now you look like a West High Knight. Good luck explaining that to everyone."

She gave a signature smile and said, "Oh, and thank you! Now I look like an American flag! Much better then looking like a Knight." She laughed and walked off.

_Trying hard to reach out  
But when I tried to speak out  
Felt like no one could hear me_

Everyone looked at Sharpay, and she was furious. Never did she think that Elaine could be so smart, and she noticed everyone staring at her, and she threw her hands up in the air and walked off to her brother. Ryan's eyes widen and said, "Please tell me we're not transferring to West High!"

"We're not! Elaine dumped purple paint all over me after I dumped blue paint on her!"

Ryan laughed, and one look at her caused him to explain, "You don't get it? Blue mixes with red to get PURPLE! And with blue paint with Elaine's usual red hair and white cheer stuff, she looks like a American Flag and purple is the color of the West High Knights, and Christopher Columbus went WEST to find America! Get it?"

"All I got was a history lesson." Sharpay was irritable, and she asked, "How did you even know that?"

"It's a play on words."

"I don't even want to know where you learn this stuff." Ryan shrugged and looked at Elaine again. She laughing and watching Sharpay get cleaned up. He smiled at her before following his sister to clean up.

_Wanted to belong here  
But something felt so wrong here  
So I'd pray  
I could breakaway_

She thought about something and realized something, _I can break free, and no one can stop me. I still remember the ocean I was at, that time seemed so perfect. A simple summer romance._

_Flashback_

Elaine was staring out her window as it rained passing through a new time zone. She synced my watch to Pacific Time, amazed at the sheer wonder being on a jet plane. Time went by very fast, and she smiled. Summertime, and ready for a summer fling. It's amazing how magical summertime could be, even though we were going to Lava Springs, the country clubs owned by the Evans twins. The best part was that she could pretend to be someone completely different! The girl she always wanted to be.

"We are now arriving in San Diego, California. Please fasten your seatbelts for the landing and right your trays." She followed the orders, terrified of what would happen if she didn't. One look outside was all it took for her to see palm trees, a beautiful ocean, and that the rain had stopped. _Beautiful,_ she thought. Outside, I was greeted by the Evans twins themselves. Elaine smiled and instead of talking like she normally would, she said very friendly, "Thank you for the welcome! I can tell we'll be _great_ friends!" I spoke like Sharpay would like to hear, and she smiled.

_I'll spread my wings and learn how to fly  
I'll do what it takes 'till I touch the sky  
And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change  
And breakaway_

"Oh my gosh, I so totally agree. Do you love to act? It'll be great to have you in our talent show," she said with her famous crinkle nose smile.

She laughed it off. "Yeah, acting is my LIFE. It'll be so awesome to perform with someone who is surely more talented than me!"

At that she smiled wider, and Elaine knew that she had hit the jackpot. Sharpay loved it when people told her that she was better than them. She gave this totally fake look, and said, "Oh, but you might be better. I haven't even seen you act yet. After all, it's not that big, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

_End Flashback_

The flashback ended as the bell rung, and Elaine shook herself mentally. During her flashback Gabriella had drifted off and forgotten about the moon she was painting.

_Flashback/Gabi's POV_

Back in San Diego, California, I was the same. I don't expect to make perment friends here, because we'll always move next year. I hope next year we stay, except for one thing: not gonna happen! For once I'm here during summer, but we're moving next year, so I'm not attaching. For once I wished there was something I could do to change this. Mom promised a ride on a cable car, and so far, hasn't happened.

The subway, well, not a subway, more of a bullet train. I sighed as I handed my ticket, heading for a day at the spa with no friends. Funny, huh? First I start out in this huge city with no one who cares. Looking around at the resort called Lava Springs, I just went to the pool, passing a flaming redhead and two blonde twins, but didn't pay attention to them. If I did, I would have known their names, Sharpay and Ryan Evans with Elaine Harrison, but that's in the past.

_Out of the darkness and into the sun  
But I won't forget all the ones that I loved  
I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change  
And breakaway_

I laid in the sun with my summer book. I didn't pay attention to anything else until...

_End Flashback_

Gabriella sighed as the flashback ended because of the bell. She rolled her eyes, and looked around. Everyone was leaving, and she took off as well.

The next day was the auditions. She decided she would watch them, even though it probably might be a bad idea. Heck, she KNEW it was a bad idea from the start. The auditions were horrible, except for Sharpay and Ryan's. Gabriella then decided to audition, even though it was probably going to be embarrassing.

Next day, a scream from Sharpay about callbacks was the first thing that grabbed Elaine's attention, and she wondered who dared to stand up to her. "Haha, sounds like the drama queen is having a major meltdown!"

Everyone laughed as Chad said to her, "What's wrong?"

_Wanna feel the warm breeze  
Sleep under a palm tree  
Feel the rush of the ocean_

Elaine rolled her eyes at the callback list, she kind of suspected it, and said, "Why does it really matter ANYWAY? Like it's a crime to audition for something! Sharpay's just being her usual drama queen self, besides, if any of you really ARE Troy's friends, you'd support him about this! Besides, I paint a lot, and I love chemistry. They aren't so bad!" She walked off annoyed about the whole thing.

_Why does everyone have to start drama? _she wondered, and shrugged it off. Of course she would have stopped this if she could, but she didn't and she stopped to think, and shook everything away. Ryan went up to her and said, "You had guts to talk to Sharpay like that. She was yelling at me for supporting you. Truth is, I think I'm falling for you, and Sharpay doesn't like it." Elaine smiled, she loved making Sharpay mad, and she loved how he admitted he was falling for her, like she was. _I guess I could have a happy ending after all,_ thought Elaine.

"Thanks. And to tell the truth, I like you too. And I also like how Sharpay dislikes our relationship already and we haven't even went out yet. Funny how dramatic she is, right?"

Elaine laughed. "Yeah, that's true. Ella, can you keep a secret?"

"Have been for over five years."

"Wow, that's a long time to keep a secret. Well, my secret is that I love to play baseball. It's so high energy."

"Really? Oh my gosh, I thought you only would do drama, but in truth, you're like everyone else!"

"Really? 'Cause Sharpay thinks playing baseball is stupid."

"Far from it! I love baseball as a good work out!"

_Get onboard a fast train  
Travel on a jet plan, far away  
And breakaway_

Ryan sighed and said, "You were the girl I met at my country club, right?" "Way to cut to the chase." "I just need to know. I really thought she was great, and I'm sure it was you." "Fine. I was the girl you met at your country club last summer. Big deal! My family didn't know it was ran by your sister, by the looks of it. You weren't doing anything!" "That's because if I tried to make changes to it, Sharpay would burn my hat collection!" Elaine laughed. "You're scared of your sister burning your hats?" "Well, I know you're scared to fall."

"How did you know?" "It was obvious." "Really?" "Really. Oh, and Sharpay also wants to change the date of the callbacks to the same time as the Decathlon and the big game." "What! She does know that if she does that, she still won't win, right?" "I wish." Elaine sighed, and kissed Ryan. When they broke apart, Ryan stared at her. "What was that for?" "For helping me figure something out. Chad and Taylor might try to break Troy and Gabriella up, but when they see how bad Troy has it for Gabi, then they'll try to fix it. Then that's when Sharpay may use that as a last resort! So we just need to make sure Sharpay doesn't know that I already have a good plan for that."

"I like how you think!" "Join the club!" They laughed, and Ryan realized something. "She doesn't know that I'm helping you out! I have to go! I'm so sorry!" "Don't be, it'll be excellent if we have a spy. Just make her think that you'll give her stupid ideas so she doesn't know what's really going on!" "Great idea!"

_I'll spread my wings and learn how to fly  
I'll do what it takes 'till I touch the sky  
And make a wish, take a chance, make a change  
And breakaway_

Everything was fine until they found out about Gabriella ignoring Troy. Elaine found out by, how else, knowing how sucky Troy was going at his basketball. She rolled her eyes, and kept the act up, waiting until they fixed it. At lunch was the point when she couldn't take it anymore. "Just tell them it was your fault!"

"How did you guess?"

"The sky told me."

"Really?"

"No, the tooth fairy."

"Really?"

"No, it was Coach Bolton. Now go fix it!"

"Wait, so you didn't talk to the sky or the tooth fairy?"

"How big of an idiot are you? I think your afro has affected your brain!"

"No, it was always like that."

"Wow, and I thought Sharpay was stupid for thinking that three wrongs make a right, since three lefts make a right."

"Huh?"

"Exactly, now go!"

Buildings with a hundred floors  
Swinging 'round revolving doors  
Maybe I don't know where to take me but  
Gotta keep moving on, moving on  
Fly away, breakaway

Elaine sighed and then she walked off. Next day was great, Troy and Gabriella were back to themselves. How?

_Last night, third person POV_

Gabriella was at home, upset about the whole thing with Troy. Troy had knocked on the Montez's door, and talked to Gabriella's mom. Gabriella told her mom silently not to let him in, but he called her and explained everything. She forgave him, and before he left, they kissed and became offically boyfriend/girlfriend.

_End last night flashback_

Yeah, good makeup with Troy and Gabriella. However, Sharpay was angry about this, and had the callbacks rescheduled, like Elaine predicted. She looked at it in shock, and said, "Something has to be done with Sharpay! May I recomend a leash, a muzzle, and a cage? Then we can rename her to Shar-Pei!"

_I'll spread my wings and learn how to fly  
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye  
I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change  
And breakaway_

_Now's the time to break free of the Evil Ella and show everyone the real girl behind my mask_, thought Elaine. She was excited for the callbacks, and even forgave Troy for some of the things in the past she wouldn't mention. Troy didn't remember anything, and Elaine let it go, even though she did mention he owed her a bike because of the one he broke in seventh grade. Troy looked at her and said, "Do you EVER stop holding grudges?" "No, now let's get planning!"

This was sure to cause some shaking and stirring within the walls of East High. _Perfect. If we break the boundaries between Troy and Gabriella, then that means no more status quo and I can date Ryan without fear,_ thought Elaine with a smile on her face.

_Out of the darkness and into the sun  
But I won't forget the place I come from  
I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change  
And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway_


End file.
